Bumper crop of old cars
City turns hauled junkers into cash in online auction
STAMFORD — It’s not exactly a showroom.
The cars in this lot have broken windows, no windows, missing hoods and do-it-yourself paint jobs.
They have flat tires, dead leaves matted under the windshield wipers, and ripped seats.
Most don’t run — some don’t even have engines — but they are for sale.
They’re in a lot beside the city’s Fleet Maintenance Garage, hauled there by tow trucks after Stamford police red-tagged them for sitting endlessly on the street.
In an early-August crackdown, police tagged 65 abandoned vehicles citywide. The ones owners didn’t claim were taken to the Magee Avenue lot, where Fleet Manager Mike Scacco puts them up for auction with an online service.
Most of the vehicles “are not fit for the road,” Scacco said. He lists them with a company called Auctions International “for parts only,” he said. “Somebody may be
“Somebody may be looking for a hood, a nose, a bumper. You can buy a car for $250 and get $1,500 worth of parts” Mike Scacco, Fleet Manager
looking for a hood, a nose, a bumper. You can buy a car for $250 and get $1,500 worth of parts,” Scacco said. “We get buyers from out of state, from all over.”
On average, cars sell for $200 to $400, he said. He’s been listing them with Auctions International for five years, bringing in a total of nearly $170,000 for the city’s General Fund, he said.
It begins in one of two ways. A resident may call police to report a junker perpetually parked on a public street. Officers tag it with a notice to the owner. If it’s in the same spot after five days, it’s towed.
Or police may spot it and run the plate number. If it comes up stolen or unregistered, the vehicle may be towed 24 hours later.
The city’s towing contractor drops such cars at the Vehicle Maintenance Garage.
“We take pictures of them and write a description and send it to Auctions International,” Scacco said. “They post the listings, people bid, and whoever wins pays Auctions International a fee. Then the city gets a check in the amount of the bid.”
Scacco receives an invoice from the company with all the information about the sale. The buyer calls Scacco to arrange pickup. After handing over the auction receipt and providing identification, the buyer takes the vehicle away.
Anything that is sold must first be approved by the Purchasing Department, Scacco said. Vehicles valued at $5,000 or more are held 60 days before they are auctioned, he said. Cars worth less are held for 30 days.
“Only a very small percentage of people come in looking for them,” Scacco said. “It’s mostly banks and insurance companies who come in. Usually the owner stopped making payments and the bank or insurance company wants the car back, so they pay the storage fee and take it.”
In five years the city has collected just over $44,400 in fees, he said.
Each heap hauled to the yard has a history.
“I hear a lot of different stories,” Scacco said. “One person was incarcerated and the car sat on the street for a year. Some people have a side business fixing cars and they use the street as a garage. If they can’t fix one, they leave it there.”
Most abandoned cars are unregistered, Scacco said. Some were stolen. Some provided shelter for a homeless person. Oddly, nearly all are locked up tight and require a break-in.
“Sometimes there’s so much garbage inside that you’re afraid to open the door,” he said.
He auctions abandoned vehicles five or six times a year, Scacco said.
But it wasn’t always that way.
Years ago the city held its own auctions, sometimes advertising by word of mouth, that were criticized for a lack of rules. There were charges that things were sold for far less than value and made available to a limited number of people.
Scacco, who became fleet manager in 2008, said he was working on lowering towing fees and bringing all city departments under one contract when he heard that abandoned cars were being hauled to a junkyard.
“I said, ‘Who pays for that?’ They said, ‘The city.’ I said, ‘What happens to the cars?’ They said, ‘They’re disposed of.’ I said, ‘Who gets the money?’ They said, ‘What money?’ I thought, ‘We have quite a yard here. Maybe we can take them.’ ”
Auctions International was just catching on with municipalities, so he decided to try it, he said. He listed the city’s first auction in late December 2012, he said.
“Now the city recoups something. It covers the cost of getting cars off the roads,” Scacco said. “They’re a nuisance. They take up parking spaces, they leak oil, they block traffic. I feel like we are helping beautify the city.”
Police Lt. Gene Dohmann, who leads the department’s effort to rid the streets of wrecks, agreed.
“Since our initiative, people have been calling to report abandoned cars because they know we will make things happen, and officers are on the lookout now that we’ve made it a priority,” Dohmann said. “It’s such a quality of life thing.”
Of the 65 vehicles that were tagged this month, 44 didn’t have to be towed because the owners resolved the problems, Dohmann said.
“We’re perfectly happy with that. People registered them, fixed the flat tires, did what they had to do to get them back on the road,” he said. “Abandoned cars are a blight. People don’t want to see them on the street. It affects them every day of the week.”
If a car that was removed reappears, residents should call police, he said. The department’s non-emergency number is 203-977-4444.
“We’ll come and do it again. It’s not right to hog a parking space forever,” Dohmann said.
“This is about consideration for your neighbors, and we want people to know the police department cares about the neighborhoods.”